This is How to Be a Better Human.

I'm your host, Chris Duffy, and today I want you to join me on an adventure, an exploration into the unknown.

Okay, what did you think of when I just said that?

Were you imagining like a grand treasure hunt, or did you think of a scientific expedition into a remote wilderness?

Those do sound exciting.

But what if adventure and exploration were more immediately accessible? What would it do for our lives and our sense of

ourselves if we could break out of the ordinary on a more regular basis? Today's guest,

Alex Hutchinson, thinks that we all want and need the unknown in our lives. And he's got lots of research and

data and ideas about how we can find it. To get us started, here's a clip of Alex reading a

passage from his new book, The Explorer's Gene, why we seek big challenges, new flavors, and the blank

spots on the map. Is a hike through a national park really exploring?

One view is that true exploring involves venturing into territory where no human has preceded you.

If there are footprints, you're not exploring.

Alternatively, you could argue that exploring is simply another word for trying something new.

If the TV show you're watching gets boring and you change the channel, you're exploring what else is on the airwaves.

Neither of these definitions really captures what the concept means to me.

The Latin word explorare means to reconnoiter, inspect, or investigate.

It was formed from X, which means from or out of, and plore to wail or lament.

The original meaning is thought to have been to scout the hunting area for game by means of shouting. That's not quite what I mean either, but there's a kernel of something important here.

You're seeking information rather than just novelty. Meaningful exploration, I will argue,

involves making an active choice to pursue a course that requires effort and carries

the risk of failure, what the mythologist Joseph Campbell called a bold beginning of uncertain

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